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Time Inc. has signed a deal with Apple that will allow print subscribers to access iPad versions of its magazines for free.

Starting Monday, subscribers to Fortune, Sports Illustrated, and Time can read these magazines on their iPad by entering an authentication code identifying themselves as print subscribers, the Wall Street Journalreports.

Magazines have struggled to take off on the iPad. Earlier this year, Apple unveiled a subscription platform for the App Store that awarded 70 percent of revenue to publishers and 30 percent to Apple. However, many publishers found the financial terms to be unfair, and said they wanted full control of subscribers' personal information.

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BeforeThe Daily appeared on the iPad last week, none of the magazines or newspapers could offer subscriptions from their own apps. Apple had a long dispute with publishers that prevented the feature to be added. On the one hand, publishers wanted to keep a direct line between themselves and their customers, to get the full amount from each subscription, and to get user details such as their gender, sex and location in many cases. Apple however wanted in-app subscriptions to go through their systems. Now, it seems Apple has decided that both should be offered. Apps will be able to offer subscriptions, but the publishers will be forced to offer those subscriptions through iTunes as well. Of course, it's likely that most users will go the iTunes route, and that has the publishers complaining. On the good side however, it means iPhone and iPad users will finally be able to get in-app subscriptions to whichever newspaper or magazine they read.

The rumor has been going for a while now, a subscription service which would allow you to subscribe to a magazine or newspaper, and receive each issue automatically on your iPad. It's been one of the big components missing for digital papers to really take off. Right now, most known names either have you download a free app and then offer in-app purchases, like Wired, or others like The Wall Street Journal only provide limited content unless you register and subscribe to the periodical on their web site.

The Guardian is reporting that Rupert Murdoch is in talks with Apple to create the first iPad-only magazine, which would bring the first subscription service directly to the device. The new product would be called The Daily, and would be the first of its kind. It wouldn't be pulling content from a current web or paper entity; it would be something new made specifically for the device, called an iNewspaper. If this happens, it'll be interesting to see what kind of pricing structure will be set, and how much Apple will control, since this is sure to set a precedent for other publications.

We're hearing that Apple may have something to announce in regards to The Daily and iPad subscriptions on December 9, so we should know more soon.